Toy dump wagon



May 5, 1925;

o. F. PARKS TOY DUMP WAGON Filed Oct. 18, `1923` Patented May 5, 1925.

UNITED Vs'frmss ORLAND r. PARKS, or BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

TOY DUMP WAGON.

Application fue@ october 1s, 1923. seria-1 No. 669,332.

'llo all whom t 71mg/ ooncem:

Be it known that I, ORLAND F. PARKS, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Birmingham, in `the county `of Jefferson andfState of Alabama, .have invented responsive to a load on the wagon and Vto close and relatch themselves automatically after dumping the load.

The object of my invention is to .provide a toy `dumping wagon in which `all of the dumping ioperations are under contro-l of a child from the drivers seat, lit being merely necessary to trip the latch to cause the doors automatically to "open, dump and `close themselves, `thus avoiding the necessity Vof the child getting'down from ythe seat to yperform any operations in connection with dumping.

My invention also `connprises the novel details of construction and arrangeinents iof parts, which in their preferred embodiment only are illustrated in the accompanying drawings which form a part `of this specification, `and in which Fig. 1 is a side view, partly broken away, of the body of my toy dump cart, the wheel supports being -onii-itted l Fig. 2 `is a bottom plan view of Fig. 1, partly broken away.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view, partly broken awa-y, on the latch koperating dump door hinge rod, illustrating the wedge `opcrzu'ing means for controlling the latches at both `ends of vthe doors.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the wedge mechanism. y

Similar refe-rence numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

In the embodiment ofmy invention illustrated, I show only a wagon body, the running gear being omitted for the sake of clear-ness. The wagon body comprises sides 1 which are cross-connected by front and rear vertical end walls 2 and 3, respectively, and which extend forward and upwardly beyond the walls 2 to receive and support the driver-s seat 4. The sides are cut away under the seat at 5 for the under cuttingof the wheels and extend forward at 6 to receive a foot board 7 and a foot rest 8. The bottom of the wagon body proper is formed extends by two drop doors 9 and 10 which are provided at their outer corners with hinge straps 11 having eyes disposed lengthwise of the body and adapted to receive hinge rods 12 and 13, respectively. The hinge rod 12 extends at each end beyond the ends of the door and through the Aeyesof strap hinges 14 attached to a rear `cross board 15 and a fro'nt `cross board 1G. Between each pa-'ir of adjacent hinge `straps 11 and 14 is interposed a sleeve 17 surrounding the rod 12 and suitable stops, as nuts, hold the hinge rod in place and the door in correct operating position.

The door 9 is mounted on `the hinge rod 13 which is received in hinge straps 11 and 14 just as the rod 12` but this-rod at each end substantially fbeyond lthe hinge straps 14. At its forward lend it is passed loosely through the outer l'eind of a lever 18 and has a coiled spring l19 surrounding it and interposed `between the forward hinge `strap 14 and the lever so as to press the laitter to its full line position, Fig. 2. -A vertically movable wedge block 2O has a `slot 21 therethrough through which "the forward 'end of the hinge rod 13 projects. Collars 22 and are mounted` on the rod on each side of the wedge, the outer collar being held in position by a nut 24 on the forward end of the rod. A coil `sliring 25 surrounds the rear end of the -rod beyond the rear hinge strap 14 and against-an end of a lever 26, `similar to 18, which has an opening through which the hinge rod passes freely. A nut'27 on the rear end ofthe rod 13 projects and holds the lever 2G on the rod against the action of the spring 25. The levers 26 and 18 extend inward-ly to the midd-le line `of the bottom and there lare pivotally connected to latches 28 which slide in casings 29 andare adapted to lengage and hold the front and rear corners of the `doors 9 and 10 when in their raised or operating position. Vhen the wedge 2O is in lowered position, the springs 19 and 25 force the levers 26 and 18 to full line position, causing the latches 28 to assume latching position. lVhen the wedge is drawn upwardly it acts to force the lever 18, as viewed in Fig. 2, to the left and to `force the hinge rod 13 to the right, thus drawing the lever 26 to its dotted position at the same time that the lever 18 is forced to its dotted position. When in dotted position the said levers retract both latches 28 and release both dumv doors simultaneously. The under` faces of the ends of the latches 28 are beveled to per mit the doors to ride past them as they are returned to closed position in the manner that will now be described.

I provide for each door suitable door closing spring means which, as shown, comprise two coil springs 30, each of which is attached at one end to the sides of the body, then coiled about the hinge rod l2 or 13, and has its inner end attached at 3l to the underside of its respective bottom door. One of these hinges is placed near each end of each door and their strength is calculated to permit the doors to drop when unlatched under the weight of a load in the body, but as soon as the load is dumped these springs will act to snap the doors back to closed position in which they will automatically latch themselves, provided the wedge 20 has been released and lowered so that the latches are free to assume operating position.

The operating mechanism for the latch is shown as comprising a link 32 hingedly connected to the upper end of the wedge 2Oi and to one end of a bell crank lever 33 which is pivotally mounted on, a bearing stud 34: on one side of the body. The other end of the bell crank lever is connected by a rod 35 to a foot pedal 36, which is typical of any suitable leverage means for operating the wedge either by hand or foot. A coil spring 37 connected to the front wall 2 and to the bell crank 33 serves to force the wedge towards its lowered or full line position, F ig. 3.

In operation, assuming the dump wagon to be loaded, when the foot pedal 36 is pressed forward, the wedge 20 is forced upwardly and in the manner described the latches are retracted, releasing the doors to drop under the weight of the load, which is thus dumped. The downward swing of the doors in dumping increases the tension on the springs 30 and as soon as the load is discharged these springs act to retract the doors and, the pedal having been released and the wedge forced downwardly by the action of spring 37, the latches 28 will automatically engage and hold the doors in their closed position ready to receive another load.

The spring means are for operating the latches or latch levers, may be of any suitable character and disposed at any point in the transmission between the latch and the operating hinge rod 13. The springs 30, as illustrated, are merely conventional springs as other types may be substituted without departure from the substance of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. A dump wagon comprising a body having hinged downwardly opening bottom doors which abut when closed, latch means at the middle of each end of the body to hold the doors in closed position, and mechanism to simultaneously operate said latch means, comprising spring-pressed levers extending to one side of the body and an axially movable side rod associated with means to simultaneously move the levers in opposite directions.

2. A dump wagon in accordance with claim l, in which the means associated with the movable rod is a wedge manually operable to engage and move the lever at one end in one direction, and to move the rod in the opposite direction, and a stop on the rod adapted to engage and move the other latch operating lever with it.

3. A dump wagon comprising a body having a pair of hinged spring-pressed downwardly opening bottom doors, the door at one side being mounted on an axially movable hinge rod, a latch for the doors at each end of the body, an operating lever for each latch, an element fast on the rod and adapted to engage and move one lever, a wedge element loose on the rod and adapted to engage and operate the other lever, and a stop adjacent to said latter lever adapted to be engaged by the wedge to move the hinge rod axially as and for the purposes described, and springretracted manually operable means to actuate said wedge.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature.

ORLAND F. PARKS.

Titness N 0Min lVnLsI-r. 

